Monday, March 19, 2012

Sabel Brush direct watercolor wash. The Rooster, from Kauai

This piece was painted with a sable brush. The rooster was laid in using contour drawing, a must for successful watercolors. The light blue pigment came from Daniel Smiths Iridescent Blue. This pigment brings light and life to the Phthalo Blue which it was added to. The dark wash was  created by using a direct continuous wash throughout the entire dark's on the chicken. The wet in wet background was placed in by splattering water on the white paper and quickly moving color behind the Rooster. Because Phthalo Blue is such a bleeder or spreading pigment just a touch of water created a soft edge which other wise would have been hard and pushing the viewer visually out of the pictorial adventure. 
 A fun day in Kauai, Hawaii.
As you travel along the Waimea Canyon there are parking lots filled with roosters and chickens.
This particular rooster had a white head. I am sure many visitors have seen this rooster it is very striking.

The Vacation Waikiki Beach, Watercolor Process


This piece was painted with a direct wash using a round sable brush. 
Care must be taken in varying value and color for interest. 
Shapes are repeated and varied through out the design. 
When painting yellow use a nice mix of violet to lower the chroma, 
this way you will not make the color go green or yellow orange.
Blues in the towels are a variety of Cobalt Blue, Ultra Marine Blue, Cerulean and Cobalt Turquoise. Be sure to make one of the blue hues dominate.
A fun painting.